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Safety Net

The safety net of community clinics and public hospitals is an important part of California’s health care system, providing high quality care to low-income, uninsured, and underinsured patients. Health Access works to support a safety net that survives and thrives.

Undocumented immigrants are explicitly excluded from federal financial help for coverage through the Affordable Care Act, and even from using a state marketplace like Covered California to purchase health coverage using their own money. While many of the most populous California counties serve undocumented in their safety-net, some counties still do not. Yet undocumented Californians are an important part of our community and economy and should be included in our health system.

Health Access is actively working to get county systems to refocus their indigent care programs to cover the remaining uninsured, including the undocumented.